Water is essential to the operation of a distillery. It is used for production, cooling, cleaning, and so much more. However, that doesn’t mean that water can’t be a big headache for distilleries too. The Borders Distillery in Hawick Scotland relies on the Teviot River as its main source of water. In this post, I’ll discuss the importance of water to distilleries and list the problems we faced with the Teviot River.
At The Borders Distillery we rely on the Teviot River for our cooling water. All distilleries need to have a reliable water source, as distilleries use huge volumes of water. Water must be used for cooling, cleaning, and for making our products. Problems with the river can lead to major issues with our alcohol production schedule.
Problem #1: Low Water Levels
When the water level in the river is low, we are not able to get enough water for the still condensers. Without cooling water for the stills we are sometimes forced to turn the still off. Then we wait for cooling water in the river to collect in our river basin outside before restarting the distillation. As with many distilleries that source their cooling water from rivers and lakes, low water levels are mainly a problem in the summertime. Prolonged heat or dry spells in the surrounding environment can exacerbate this problem and lead to a distillery being unable to keep up with its spirit production schedule.
Problem #2: Fast Flowing River
This usually occurs when we experience heavy rains. The heavy rain causes the river water to flow too quickly, so that it is unable to collect in the river basin below. The basin has a screen mesh on top to keep out silt, rocks, and dirt. When the river water flows too quickly it goes past this mesh and we are unable to collect the water.
Problem #3: Silt and Debris
Our river basin has two pumps on the bottom. While there is a coarse screen at the entrance of the basin to keep out silt and debris, some smaller silt and debris can pass through to clog the pump and pipework. These solids can get into the distillery system and cause problems inside.
Problem #4: River Flooding
The distillery is located beside the Teviot River which gives us great access to our water source, but also places our distillery in direct danger of a flood . Flooding is a yearly and mounting concern in the town of Hawick. Climate scientists expect that the UK will see ~10% rise in annual average rainfall by 2100. This means that flooding will become a more frequent and worsening occurrence in the future.
The importance of water to distilleries cannot be understated. In this post, I’ve mentioned some of the major problems we face at the distillery with our water source, the Teviot River.
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